We’ve all heard those three little words a lot, to the point where it has started to become a somewhat monotonous mantra. We hear them sprinkled into half of the interviews we read and hear with players and league commissioners. We see the phrase everywhere on social media. Even the name of this very site was inspired by those three words.

Whether you like it or not, “grow the game” is attached to women’s hockey, and it’s not going anywhere soon." (from The Ice Garden)

While the growth of women's hockey has been fantastic in recent years, in particular at the professional level with the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL), and National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), it's of utmost importance to ensure that the next generation is getting involved with the game to see continued growth in the future.

Young girls are going to be the ones driving the success of these leagues and the game in general when they get older, both as players, but also as fans or executives.

There was a time when young girls only had the option to play on a team with boys, but those days are thankfully becoming days of the past.

More and more leagues, teams, and programs are popping up across Canada and the United States for girls to want to be a part of the game. It's becoming just as viable as any other sport or activity for a young girl hoping to get active.

“It’s really important for the development of the girls socially and skill-wise to be playing with players their own age level and their own gender,” she said. “When a young girl is separated out of the dressing room from the boys — they only come in pre-game — it kind of takes away from that social interaction and developing socially and the team skills. Now there’s a high-enough calibre of female hockey across the country that you can still develop your skills at a high level. You don’t necessarily have to go play boys’ hockey to challenge yourself.” (from Canada.com)

If all trends continue in the direction they're headed in, the women's game is set to continue to see considerable growth across the board.

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